Tab. 7600. 



PHILADELPHITS mexicanus. 

 Native of Mexico and Guatemala. 



Nat. Ord. Saxifrages. — Tribe Hydrangea. 

 Genus Philadelphtts, Linn. ; (Benih. & Hooh.f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 642.) 



Philadelphia mevicanus; frutex gracilis, ramulis foliis subtus calycibusque 

 plus ininusve hirtellis, foliis 1£- 2-pollicaribus ovatis acuminatis 3-nerviis 

 remote dentatis, floribus ad apices ramulorum solitariis breviter pedicellatis 

 amplis 1-lf-poll. latis pallidesulphureis suaveolentibus, calycis segmentia 

 ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis remote dentatis tubo multo longioribus, 

 stylo columnari ad medium 4-fido, stigmatibus oblongis obtusis. 



P. mexicanus, Schlecht. in Linneea, vol. xiii. (1839) p. 418. Whip. Rep. vol. ii. 

 p. 151. Lindl. Bnt. Beg. vol. xxviii. t. 38*. Decaisne in Rev. Sortie. 

 Ser. III. vol. i. (1852) p. 381, fig. 20. Wittmack in Berl. Gartenz. 1883, 

 p. 528, fig. 91. Gard. Ghron. 1883, vol. i. p. 753. Hemsl. Biol. Centr. 

 Amer. vol. i. p. 384. 



Except by the scented flowers I fail to find a character 

 whereby P. mexicanus is distinguishable from solitary- 

 flowered specimens of the common P. grandiflorus, Willd. 

 (Bot. Reg. t. 570), a native of the Eastern United 

 States, from Virginia southwards. It was introduced 

 from Mexico by Hartweg, into the gardens of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society about the year 1835. 

 From the plants there raised Lindley (in 1842) figured it, 

 but his figure is from a plant only two feet high, with 

 much smaller leaves and flowers than those of Hartweg's 

 dried native specimen, or than our plant shows. It 

 appears to be common from north to south in its native 

 country, growing wild in hedges at elevations of 6-8000 ft., 

 in Oaxaca, and about the city of Mexico. There are 

 specimens in Herb. Kew, collected in Guatemala, dep. 

 Quiche, alt. 6000 ft., by J. Donnel Smith, Esq., and others. 

 Schlechtendal considered it to be the Acuiloth, or climbing 

 aquatic of Hernandez, who figured it, and speaks of it as 

 an inhabitant of wet places, creeping on the ground, or 

 scrambling up trees. Hernandez (Nov. Plant. Mex., &c, 

 lib. iv. cap. x. p. 107) compares the habits of the plant 

 with the musk-rose, and says that a sweet and agreeable 

 essence is distilled from its flowers. Schlechtendal is no 



June 1st, 1898. 



